Criminal Minds Season 7 Tags
by hot4booth
Summary: Collection of one-shots. #12 - There's No Place like Home 7x07 - Hotch, Emily and the team go to a sports bar & grill after finishing the case. There were sports on TV, pool tables for friendly competition... and maybe something else recreational?
1. 7x02 Rossi & Reid about JJ

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7.

**Author's Notes:** This is a tag for **7x02, "Proof." **This is a conversation between Rossi and Reid after the cooking lesson regarding Reid's broken relationship with JJ. It alludes to a desired Rossi/JJ relationship in the future. Rating: K+

This is my first time writing for Criminal Minds, so I'm a bit nervous. If you watch Bones, I've written several stories for that show.

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><p>"Reid, can you hang back a few minutes so we can talk?" asked Rossi once his teammates started filing out the door shortly after their Italian cooking lesson.<p>

"Uh, yeah, sure," Reid said uncertainly. If he had known this would happen, he would have thought more about whether he wanted to join the team that night.

They walked back to the kitchen to sit on the barstools. He poured a cup of coffee for each of them before broaching the subject of JJ. He decided to approach it without singling her out. "Are things better with JJ and Prentiss?" asked Rossi.

Reid sighed. He knew he'd exploded at JJ in front of the team and regretted it_. _He wondered how the team would ever see him as mature with the way he acted."I talked with Prentiss on the plane. I can see her point of view. But JJ, I confided in her for weeks. It's harder to forget the feeling of betrayal. She pretended to grieve with us. How are you so quickly willing to forgive that?"

"I'm not criticizing your reaction. It was bound to be harder for you."

"Why would you think that?" He felt a bit insulted.

"I had a hunch about what was going on. You were completely in the dark and blindsided," admitted Rossi.

"You knew? We're not supposed to be profiling each other," he glared at the senior agent. "I trusted her because that's what we do. We're family."

"Profiling is ingrained in me."

He snorted softly. "What does that say about me?"

"Reid, don't beat yourself up. You're a good profiler. You wouldn't be on the team if you weren't. You knew that there was something going on with Emily. The majority of your profiling skills are with the research and background of the psychopaths we hunt down. You get into the minds of the sorry excuse for people from the knowledge you've gained about how they think. Your geographical profiling is exceptional. We'd be without a vital piece of the puzzle without you. So, don't sell yourself short."

Reid studied the man in front of him. He felt somewhat better. Morgan was good at encouraging him, but Rossi was using the angle that Gideon often used. And it felt good.

Rossi could tell he wasn't convinced. It wasn't like he'd had this kind of discussion with the man before. "Besides, people tend to overlook the obvious the closer they are to the person."

He shook his head. "We're all a part of the family."

"JJ calls you Spence. You're Henry's godfather. She makes you feel like a brother."

Reid winced at his words and Rossi narrowed his eyes wondering what he was thinking. "You're feelings are more than brotherly?" He attempted to mask his surprise.

"Don't be absurd. JJ is with Will. She had Henry with him."

"I don't think that's going to last much longer. He's not happy that she's returned to the BAU. He doesn't like the hours and she's putting herself in more danger being in the field as a profiler."

"And how do you know this?" "_How close were JJ and Rossi?"_ he thought to himself.

"She cares about you, Reid. Don't you think this was hard for her to keep from you? Can you imagine how she must have felt every time she had to see and talk to you? She needed a friend to talk to as much as you did even though she couldn't give you all the information."

That gave him something to think about. He'd been so caught up in his feelings of betrayal; he regretfully admitted to himself, he hadn't thought about her feelings of guilt. He needed to talk with her soon. He hoped he hadn't damaged things beyond repair.

"Do you think she'll forgive me for my behavior towards her in front of the team?" He looked anxious.

"Yes, I do," said Rossi confidently.

Reid sighed with relief.

"So, you'll talk to her? Everything is good with you?"

"Yes, I'll recover. I need to talk to her soon though." He hesitated briefly. "So you really think JJ and Will are done?"

"_Damn," _thought Rossi. "_All I intended to do was make things better for Jen. Did I just give myself some competition? _"


	2. 7x06 Rossi & Hotch

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other. Any of them could potentially lead to a mulit-chapter fic in the future.

**Author's Notes:** This is a tag for **7x06 Epilogue **(Rossi/Hotch – friendship/comfort).

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><p><strong>You Always have Jack and Me<strong>

Rossi refused to take an extended leave after the funeral. He'd had to have words with Section Chief Strauss, but he could always handle her. It was easier to get Hotch's approval to return. Hotch knew he needed to stay busy. Unlike Hotch that had Jack to keep him busy, Rossi had no one during the long days.

The team kept a careful eye on Rossi wondering if the legendary profiler was ready to be back. When a case came up one day in December, Rossi couldn't be reached by cell phone or home phone. Hotch wanted the plane up in an hour. Everyone became worried once again, but Hotch told them Rossi would be fine. "Plan for an hour, but know it may be a little longer. Morgan? Can you get things ready to go for me?"

"Yeah, of course." He acknowledged with concern as the team watched their unit chief leave.

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

Hotch found Rossi in the cemetery sitting in front of the stone that now marked Carolyn's grave. He walked silently and hesitantly until he stood only a few feet away. Without looking up, Rossi began to talk to him.

"When Haley died, I understood your love. It may have changed, but you still loved her. And you'll always mourn her. Carolyn will always be my first love." Hotch knew that. They'd talked about it after his divorce. It was then that he warned him about not jumping into new relationships too quickly… to learn from his mistakes of two additional failed marriages.

"We remained friends even though we only saw each other every few years. We promised to be there for each other whenever we needed it. And then…" His voice faltered.

Hotch walked up to sit down next to him while he waited for Rossi to continue talking if he wanted to. He wouldn't force him. This wasn't about what he wanted to know. It was about what his friend needed to share at that moment.

"And then before our last case, she asked me to do something for her. And I couldn't do it, Aaron."

"What did she want you to do?" Rossi hadn't given any details to the team.

"As you knew, she was diagnosed with ALS a little over a year ago. She was getting worse and closer to the end." That much he knew because Emily had cautiously shared that much. But the rest was a mystery. "She wanted me to help her end her life. I couldn't do it, Aaron." He laid his forehead on his knees that were propped up by sitting on the ground. Hotch comforted him by resting a hand on one of his shoulders.

"I'm sure she understood," said Hotch softly.

"Yeah, she said that. I wanted her to fight it. I wanted to take care of her. But she didn't want that. She wanted to leave on her own terms… to be remembered how she was."

"What happened?" he whispered as he was afraid to ask.

"I went to her hotel room as planned. She spared me from making a decision. She had taken an overdose of pills before I got there. I only had time to hold her and say good-bye."

His eyes were haunted as they stared at nothing in particular.

"James was your son."

"Yes. For years I was unable to talk about him. And eventually, the time never presented itself."

"You can tell me anything and it doesn't have to be now."

"I know. You're a good friend, Aaron." He finally turned to him and gave him a sad smile. "You're a good father. I watch you with Jack when we're coaching."

"Sometimes, I wonder if I'm giving him enough."

"I know you do. That's why I'm telling you that you're a good father." There was a hint of the familiar Rossi charmed smile and Hotch gave a bit of a smile in return. "Carolyn and I only had a few precious hours with James. Don't waste the time you've been given whether they are hours, days or years. We don't know how long we have our loved ones."

A few silent moments went by with each of the men in their own thoughts.

"You're ready to be back." Hotch stated.

"I am. The team has doubts, don't they?"

"I don't think it's any different from when I came back after Haley died. Give them time."

"Why don't you have any doubts?"

Hotch gave a rare chuckle. "You're already giving me advice."

He laughed back. It felt good to his soul. Dragging himself up to stand and swiping dirt and grass off of himself, he answered. "Let's get our sorry asses out of here. My guess is that we have a case."

Already up and walking next to Rossi, he looked at his watch. "Can you be ready to leave in 30 minutes?"

He scoffed. "I'm always ready."

As they parted ways to get in their own vehicles, Hotch hesitated. "Dave…" Rossi turned to listen. "It's my turn to give out the words of wisdom," informed Hotch.

"Is that so?" he drawled.

"You're not alone. You always have Jack and me."

Rossi gave a slight nod and smile and swiftly hopped into his SVU. He didn't trust his emotions to do or say anything else right then.

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

**Author's Notes:** If there's interest, I may turn this into a multi-chapter story. Would you want it to stay a friendship or have it become mild-slash? Sorry, I'm not comfortable with M. Slash in general is out of my comfort writing zone right now.


	3. 7x05 Rossi & Carolyn

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other. Any of them could potentially lead to a mulit-chapter fic in the future.

**Author's Notes:** This is a short tag for **7x05 Childhood's Hour **(Rossi/Carolyn)

_Thank you **Ladyjosie, wolfeylady** and **greenlover2** for your reviews!_

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><p><strong>Let Me Take Care of You<strong>

Just a few hours ago, Rossi hoped he would be getting a fresh start with his ex-wife. Now, here he was, listening to her tell him she was dying and wanting him to help her end her life when the time came.

"You don't have to decide anything, yet," said Carolyn.

"Are you in any pain?" asked Rossi. His tears were starting to slip down his cheeks.

"I have medications for it." She smiled weakly.

"Come here." He held out his arms and pulled her into a hug. She quickly melted into him and rested her head on his chest.

It felt so right to Rossi. He wished she would have come to him sooner. "Please, let me take care of you with the time you have left," he spoke into her hair and then kissed the top of her head.

"What about your job?"

"Screw the job," he said with certainty. He pulled back to look into her eyes. "We both know that we didn't split because we didn't love each other. I can't undo the past, but I can affect the present and future."

Her eyes filled with tears and they started to slip, mirroring his own. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "Come on. Let's go to bed. We can talk some more about it tomorrow after we're clear headed from a full night's sleep."

"Ah, so you finally believe me. It's better to make decisions in the morning."

He chuckled and then gave her a peck on the lips. He stood up and pulled her up with him. "Come on. You can sleep in the guest room if you're more comfortable."

"I'd rather have you hold me if that's okay."

"It's more than okay, Carolyn." He hugged her tightly. "You're not alone. I'll stay with you for as long as you need me."

**THANKS FOR REVIEWING! I LOVE READING THEM!**

**They keep me motivated!**


	4. 7x12 Hotch & Emily

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

**Author's Notes:** This is a tag for **7x12 – The Unknown Subject** (Emily & Hotch friendship) _At one point in this short story, it may seem to get off track, but it makes sense in the end._

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><p><strong>My favorite part of the Hotch and Emily chat: <strong>

**Hotch: **"Sergio?"

**Prentiss: "**He's the perfect man. He doesn't hog the covers and he poops in a box."

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><p><strong>You do anything for Family<strong>

With tears forming in her eyes, Emily was able to hold them in while she admitted to Hotch that she was having a bad day. Neither had expected it to be so soon.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't say you're sorry. They're going to happen."

"But it seems like just a few hours ago I said I was fine. And I was."

"Do you know what that says to me?" He hesitated as he watched for any signs of understanding. "There was a trigger. Something unexpected but obvious triggered emotions you didn't start the day with. Is that what happened?"

Emily swallowed with difficulty and blinked a few times willing herself not to cry. "It was Regina."

"Regina? The one you saved from going to jail on murder charges?"

"Yeah. She requested that I be the one that took her statement. It surprised me because she knew I lied to her. She wanted to know why I stopped her from shooting the Piano Man."

"And she wasn't happy that you were protecting her from the consequences if she had?"

"Not exactly." A tear slipped down her cheek and she really felt like taking a break. Maybe she should have waited a day until she wasn't as emotional and they had more time. The others were boarding the plane soon. Instead, she grabbed a tissue from her purse.

"Even though he will be behind bars for the rest of his life, she thinks she'll never be rid of him. He victimized her twice. She was angry telling me I could never understand what that felt like. She saw something in my expression." Trying to lighten the moment, she added, "Maybe we should suggest training for her as a profiler." She laughed just a bit and Hotch smirked a bit before the look of concern returned.

"She wanted to know if I chose to kill him. I wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. It will always be different for her. I have to live with the nightmares, but she has to live with the nightmares and the fear. Did I do the right thing, Hotch?"

"In the eyes of the law, yes, you did. But in the conscious mind, I don't know, Emily. There's no way of knowing how harsh a judge's ruling would be on her if she pulled that trigger. We don't know if she would have gotten her life back. _We_ got our lives back. But we can't feel guilty about that. We can't let "what ifs" affect our job. But we _can_ be in control of our own lives by the actions and decisions we make every day. After killing Foyet, my life eventually returned to normal, or as normal as it could get. You've got your life back and eventually it will return to normal as it can get."

"But I'm not there yet."

"No," he whispered. "And there's no way of knowing when. I can tell you this. There are bad days when the triggers are obvious like today. And then there are days when you have to sit back and try and figure out what triggered your change in mood and the return of all those feelings. For me, those were the most important times. I learned more about myself and could usually avoid those triggers in the future."

"Thank you, Hotch. Really. This can't be easy reliving things just to help me."

"You do anything for family," he said in a low husky voice before losing eye contact to hide emotions he didn't want to be seen.

They could hear the team outside ready to get on the plane.

"Can I ask just one more thing?"

"Sure."

"How long did it take for you?"

"I don't know. I'm sure Reid could tell you, though." They both genuinely smiled and laughed.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" called Morgan. "Why weren't we invited to the party?"

"You don't need an invite," said Reid. "You never have trouble finding or creating one."

Morgan slapped him on the back of his head.

"And there's always some sweet honey with him, too," chimed in Prentiss.

"He calls his women, sweet honey?" asked J.J. with the roll of her eyes.

"To be accurate, the only thing that can be good about Halloween according to Morgan is snuggling up to a scary movie with a _Halloween _honey," Reid informed them.

"Oh yeah!" agreed Morgan. "So much better than dressing up in a costume."

"I think that depends on the person and the costume." The team looked at Hotch in utter surprise.

"What did Jack dress up as last Halloween, Aaron?" asked Dave.

The smile on Hotch's face had the team's full attention.

"Well, last year, he dressed up as a soccer coach and he insisted he was Uncle Dave."

Hotch and Rossi laughed. "But the year before that…" prompted Rossi.

"That year, he dressed up as me. He said I was the real super hero."

The girls let out audible "awes," Rossi patted the back of his shoulder in support of what he always told him, "You're a wonderful father, Aaron," Morgan admitted that maybe Halloween wasn't so bad for innocent little children, and Reid started giving statistics on the ages of children and the changes in the types of costumes over the years."

Rossi sat next to Hotch and Emily sat across from him. "Okay, so I've changed my mind. You've one upped me. You're the one with the perfect man." Hotch smirked and Rossi furrowed his brows in confusion.


	5. 7x16 Reid, Henry & Jack

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement. The spider facts are taken directly from (www dot kidzone dot ws/lw/spiders/facts dot htm) and (wiki dot answers dot com).

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

TAG to 7x16 (A Family Affair)

**CM Weekly Writing Prompt (Week 7): **Encountering a Spider

**CM Weekly Writing Prompt (Week 8): **Don't you wish the writers would have shown Reid babysitting Henry in 7x16? Write your version of Reid and Henry's night.

Here's my idea of how that night could have led to Jack and Henry frightening Beth with a spider after the triathlon.

"**SOUP ANYONE?"**

Reid had forgotten how much energy his three-year old godson had. Reid was already tired when he finally coaxed Henry into getting ready for bed. Little did he know that it was a long process. After going to the bathroom, brushing his teeth and getting his pajamas on, there was an extra step. Henry had been having nightmares and JJ and Will had started the practice of checking closets and under beds before he got under the covers for his bedtime story.

Of course, Reid didn't know he was being manipulated into extra examinations of the house. While inspecting the laundry room, Henry screeched.

"That's just a spider, Henry."

"I don't wike spiders," Henry confided with a shake of the head.

"These kind of spiders can't hurt you."

Unlike the team, Henry didn't give him a chance to go into a long speech about the facts. Henry had no intention of living in the same house with the creature. "Mommy **always** kills them," he said truthfully with wide eyes.

Reid followed Henry to the bathroom where Henry grabbed a tissue and gave it to Reid.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"Kiwa it!"

Once they finally made it back to the bedroom, Henry went straight to the bookshelf and found a friendly story about a spider that frightened a little girl. It was very unrealistic to Reid.

"That was an interesting story, Henry. Do you want to hear some cool things about spiders?"

He stared at Reid momentarily before hesitantly nodding.

"Spiders can't chew or swallow," started Reid.

Henry's eyes grew wide. "How do they eat?"

"They can only eat liquids like soup! To do this, they inject their prey with poison using their fangs."

Henry scrunched up his nose. "What's prey?"

"It's insects. That's their food."

"EW!"

Reid laughed and then continued. "The poison turns the insides of an insect to a watery goop and the spider just sucks it up. The insect will often look normal except that the body is empty!"

"Can it suck me up?"

"No way! You are much too big."

Henry sighed deeply.

"Web-spinning spiders will wrap their prey in a web and then crush its body with their teeth. You're too big for that, too." And Reid winked at him and tickled his tummy. Henry giggled at that.

"They then pour digestive juice over the body and liquefy it. Perfect for sucking it up!"

"But they can't suck me up," Henry reminded himself.

"Absolutely not," confirmed Reid. "And they eat insects so they won't bother you either." Henry looked confused. "If you see one, I guess there wasn't a spider around to eat it."

"Oh. Spiders are good?"

"Well, only if you and your mommy aren't afraid of them."

"Mommy **reawee** doesn't like them," he informed seriously.

He laughed again. Reid couldn't wait to tease her about it.

"Do you want to know about baby spiders?"

Henry's face lit up. "Like the one in my book?"

Reid wanted to object but thought better of it. "Right. Baby spiders are called spiderlings."

"Spider wings?"

"They don't have wings."

"No wings!"

"The male and female spiders…" Henry looked confused again. "The boy and girl spiders have to get together and mate to make baby spiders. And it can be dangerous for the boy. So he has to be very careful."

"Why?"

"Um. They were made that way." Henry looked satisfied. "Boys use their claws to send vibrations. I mean the claws make the web move so the girl spider knows he is there. Then he has to… get her to like him."

"Why?"

"So she won't eat him," he stated simply.

His eyes grew wide once again. Reid rushed to move past that part. "The boy spider does a dance to make her like him and mate."

"Why?"

"So they can hug and have a baby." He wisely decided not to tell him that the female sometimes still eats the male after mating. He was belatedly starting to worry if JJ and Will were going to shoot him for all he had taught the preschooler.

**~oOo~**

Will and Henry met the team and Beth at a restaurant after the triathlon. When they were done ordering, Will checked the occupancy of the single family bathroom just a few feet away and let the boys in. "Try and keep the soap and water **in **the sink."

"We will," sang Jack.

Will sat back down and kept his eye on the door until they returned.

**~oOo~**

"Wook!" shouted Henry.

"What?" asked Jack. "Come on. You have to dry your hands."

Henry took the offered paper towel and hastily wiped off the water from his hands before throwing the towel away. "We have to hewlp the spider, Jack," screeched Henry.

"Why?"

"Because there's no insects or soup in here. That's what they eat," he proudly told Jack.

"Well, Daddy's friend has soup. Here, let me hold it. Maybe he'll like the yucky cabbage stuff."

Will popped his head in. "You boys done in there, yet."

"Yeah. Come on, Henry."

Not long after settling back into their chairs across from each other, Jack put his fist next to Beth's bowl of soup.

Morgan eyed him suspiciously. "Jack, what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

Reid spotted what that nothing was and his eyes widened.

"Reid?" Hotch asked with his warning tone. "What's going on?"

Reid's gaze went from Hotch and back to the bowl of soup where the spider was just getting to the rim of the bowl. All eyes were now trying to see what Reid was looking at. Suddenly, Beth and JJ screeched. Jack giggled so hard he was holding his stomach. Henry soon followed because he always wanted to do what his older friend did. It didn't take long for Rossi to start chuckling as he took in the chaos it ensued. Reid was mortified and it showed with his eyes still wide and an obvious blush to his face. All the nearby tables were of course staring with some of the people showing their displeasure. Hotch quickly smashed the spider with a napkin and took it and the bowl to the counter for a waitress to take care of the offending items.

Hotch stared seriously at his son and he sobered immediately. "Did you put the spider there?" Jack nodded. "Why would you do something like that? Where did you even get it from?"

"The bathroom."

Everyone at the table cringed. "Why?" he asked incredulously.

"Henry said he liked to eat soup and we didn't want it to starve!" It seemed so normal to him.

"Oh God," mumbled Reid.

Morgan heard it and stared in disbelief.

"I didn't tell him that," he screeched. "I told him that spiders have to liquefy their prey and soup seemed the best way for him to understand the concept."

"Are you kidding me, kid?" asked Morgan.

"You taught my son about the details of how spiders eat?" JJ asked in disbelief that the scene was actually happening. Maybe it was all a nightmare brought on by the hangover.

Rossi was still amused. "What else did Dr. Reid tell you?"

Henry was more than happy to share how smart he was. "Daddy spiders are afraid of mommy spiders!"

"That's how it should be," announced Garcia. Hotch gave her the next warning glare.

"Oh God," mumbled Reid again but no one was paying attention to him. Henry was much more entertaining at the moment.

"MmmHmm," Henry said and nodded his head vigorously. "Sometimes the mommy eats the daddy."

JJ gaped at the boy before turning to Reid. "Did Henry have nightmares?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Reid said nervously.

"Oh, you would know if he did," said Will.

"Hey! I'm not done telling the story!" Everyone but Hotch and JJ laughed at the little boy.

Morgan's eyes twinkled as he saw how nervous Reid was. He encouraged Henry to continue. "What else to Reid tell you?"

"The daddy spider dances!" Henry started wiggling in his seat.

"Not so loud," whined Prentiss whose head was evidently still pounding.

"If the mommy spider likes it, they hug and make spider wings!"

A chorus of "huh" and "what" sounded from around the table.

"Spiderlings," sputtered Reid. "They're baby spiders."

"Prentiss," called JJ from the other end of the table. "This is all _your_ fault that my son knows about making babies."

"Jack. Earmuffs," growled Hotch. Jack covered his ears and Henry copied him.

"How could this possibly be my fault?"

"You said Reid could handle babysitting by himself."

Jack put his hands down. "I want Dr. Reid to baby-sit me!"

Reid grinned as if he won something until Hotch spoke up again. "Not happening."

The waitress arrived and interrupted the ridiculous restaurant discussion and Will marched the boys back to the bathroom to wash their hands again only he didn't leave them alone.

After lunch was done, they walked out in small groups to the parking lot. Rossi stepped up next to Beth letting Hotch and Jack fall behind them on the little sidewalk leaving the front door.

"So do you think you'd ever want to hang out with this group again?" he asked with an amused grin.

"It was entertaining," she said noncommittally.

"Are you really afraid of spiders?" asked Jack.

"No, not really. I'm just not used to insects being by my food. It surprised me."

"Actually," said Reid seeming as though he came out of nowhere to correct a misconception. "In the phylum Arthropoda, there are several classes, two being Insecta, insects, and Arachnida, spiders. This means that spiders and insects are related, but they are not the same and spiders are not a type of insect. Spiders and insects…"

"Reid," warned Hotch.

"Oh, right." Reid nodded.

"It's been entertaining and educational," said Beth with a smile.

Reid beamed.


	6. 7x17 Morgan & Garcia

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

**Author's Notes:** This is a tag for **7x17 **_(I Love You, Tommy Brown)._ This starts out with Garcia and Reid, but this will turn out to be a Morgan and Garcia story.

**Criminal Minds Writing Prompts Week 8 **– caught in the rain, a fireplace and snuggling

**The Flood Gates Open**

On his way out of the bull pen and ready to go home after the long day, Reid thought he heard what sounded like crying. Not being able to forget about it, he walked towards the sound. He found Garcia in her office with a small garbage basket filled with used tissues. He knocked softly on her half-way opened door.

"Oh, I thought I was alone," she answered with blotchy red eyes.

"Almost. I was just about to leave." Reid hesitated momentarily. "Are you okay?"

Garcia pasted on a smile. "I'm fine, now. I cried it out and I'm ready to go home."

"Are you sure you should go home alone? I could call Morgan. He'd…"

She shook her head. She knew after the past couple of days that he would not be comfortable talking to her about her relationship issues. She'd always been able to talk to him about anything, but now she was finding out that anything also had its limits. He seemed disappointed that she didn't want to accept Kevin's proposal and it bothered her although she wasn't sure why.

"Garcia?"

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"He's not answering and I know I'm not…"

"Who's not answering?"

"Morgan."

"No. He doesn't want to talk to me," she said softly with her eyes averted.

Reid highly doubted that. "I know I'm not Morgan, but can I help you with anything? Maybe dinner?"

"I'm not good company right now. I wouldn't want to spoil your evening."

"You're not spoiling anything." He held out her jack to her and she relented.

"At least let me drive you home. You're exhausted."

"I'm fine. Maybe I should drive you home. Save you from riding the subway."

"Not a chance. I'm not letting you drive in the emotional state you're currently in. It would probably only take two minutes on the road before you'd fall asleep. Where are your keys?" he asked.

Garcia's eyebrows lifted high on her forehead. "Geez, Wonder Boy. Taking lessons from my Chocolate God on assertiveness?"

"Don't give him too much credit. I talk down unsubs instead of shooting them."

"You have a point, but have your driving skills improved?"

"I take offense to that. My driving skills are just fine. You don't have a thing to worry about. You can even rest your eyes and take a nap."

She handed over the keys with a roll of her eyes and he gave her a smug smile.

**~oOo~**

Reid had guessed correctly; Garcia had fallen asleep quickly with her head tilted back on the seat's headrest. He finally received an answering text message from Morgan which he was thankful for.

Garcia felt the car stop and the engine quit. Temporarily confused, she was surprised to see Reid and even more surprised to see they were in a church parking lot.

"Reid? Why are we here? You were supposed to take me home."

"You'll forgive me later," was all he said before getting out of the car. He walked around and opened the door for his hesitant passenger. "It bothered me when you said Morgan wouldn't want to talk to you. It's just not right. The last time I remember you two not getting along was the night you were shot. Morgan came here because you were mad at him. Since he's here again, I can only speculate that he needs to talk to you as much as you need to talk to him. Get things resolved."

"It's not that easy."

"It can be."

Reid shut her car door, hit the key locks and then walked her into the church. It was dimly lit with candles. It took a few moments, but Reid spotted Morgan to the left close to the front and pointed for Garcia to see.

"Are you going to stay here?" she asked.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go home. Maybe drive your car back to Quantico tomorrow and Morgan can take care of where ever you need to go."

"You have it all worked out," she said with amusement.

"I _**am**_ a genius."

She pinched one of his sweet cheeks when he smiled with pride for himself.

Garcia slipped into the pew without being noticed and followed his example by kneeling with her head bowed. She really hadn't been to church in many years and the position felt foreign. But after a couple of minutes she found herself reflecting more peacefully on the events of the past few hours and tried to think about things from Kevin's perspective and Morgan's perspective. Kevin was easy to understand. She just wished she could have held him off longer. Then maybe she would have been ready. If only she had more time is what she had been telling herself for months when he started dropping hints about a future together with sheep and farms. Morgan, on the other hand, had only confused her. She couldn't understand why he was pushing her to a more committed relationship when he himself was a confirmed bachelor. If anyone should understand wanting their own time and space, it should be him.

She felt a hand covering her own and looked up to see her beautiful Derek Morgan looking at her with surprise.

"Baby girl, what are you doing here?"

"I don't know."

"You're going to have to give me more than that, Mama."

"It was Reid's idea. Things didn't go well with Kevin. I was upset and Reid heard me."

"That's why he wanted to know where I was," he said mostly to himself. "Are you

okay?"

She gave him a small smile and diverted his line of questioning. "I'm always okay when I'm with you."

"Silly girl."

"Why did _you_ come here?" she asked him.

He hadn't expected that question and was tempted to avoid it, but things had been strained enough the last couple of days and she deserved better from him. "To ask for help to stay strong so I can be here for you when you need me."

"I don't understand. You're the best friend a girl can have."

He kissed her on the forehead.

"I wish that were true. I wasn't very helpful today when you needed me." That was the truth. What he could never admit was that he also needed strength in another way. He wanted other things that only a man with eyes and common sense would want from her. But he couldn't be that person.

"I shouldn't have pressured you like I did. That wasn't fair."

"Hush. You're reaction was understandable once you told me how nervous you were about it. I should have listened. You have always been my God given solace and I wish I could be that for you, too. I feel like I failed. That's why I'm here."

She hugged him and he welcomed it. "You already are my solace."

"Let's go for a walk and start over. Tell me what's got you so nervous and see if I can help this time." He wiped away a lone tear that had escaped.

She nodded. She was afraid to speak lest she cry buckets of tears.

They walked in silence for awhile. She felt safe and secure with his arm wrapped around her back with his hand resting on the side of her waist. To those they passed by, they probably looked like a couple. But it didn't bother either of them. They had always had a close relationship and it felt natural to them.

"Baby girl, will you tell me what happened after I left?"

"Basically it came down to a question I hadn't expected. He asked me if it's marriage I'm against or is it marriage with him I'm against."

"Ouch. What did you say?"

"I told him I wasn't ready. He said he was and he walked away. And now I don't know where I stand. Does our relationship continue after that or did we just break up?"

"I can't answer that for you."

"I know, Sweet Cheeks. I'm just confused. I know we need to talk, but I'm unsure who should make the first move and when."

"Uh, oh. Did you feel that?" he asked as he looked up at the sky.

"No." She looked up as he was doing. How had they not noticed the increasing dark clouds? "I felt that. We've been walking awhile. We're going to get very wet."

He laughed and grabbed her hand and started running back the way they came. His laugh was contagious and there was no way she could continue at that pace especially while laughing. She was no where in the same kind of shape as he was. He was kind enough to understand and he guided her into a pharmacy in hopes of waiting out the heaviest of the rain.

Right inside the door was a container of umbrellas for sale. "I don't think one of those is going to matter anymore," she said as her laughter calmed down. Surprised that he didn't say anything, she looked up to find him watching her as she pulled at her blouse that was sticking to her skin like a glove. "To bad for you it's not white," she teased.

He came out of his trance and chuckled. "You're already too hot to handle. I'd have to take you to some supply closet and ravish you if you were wearing white."

She blushed despite the years of teasing and flirting.

They walked rather than ran the rest of the way to his car. They were already soaked so it didn't matter. He surprised her and went straight home. "I have a fireplace to warm us up," he explained.

**~oOo~**

Morgan started the fire while Garcia changed into a pair of his sweats and sweatshirt. He smiled as his body already started warming up at the sight of her when she returned. The thought of his Goddess wearing his clothes was just hot as hell. Her make-up which was ruined from crying and rain was now washed off completely and her hair had been towel dried. She would most likely disagree, but she looked wonderful to him.

"Your turn," she announced. "I'm going to make us some hot chocolate."

He spread his arms out and grinned. "You already have your hot chocolate right here."

Her grin matched his as she approached him but ducked away from a hug. He was still much too wet. "Then lucky me for the double chocolate. Hurry. Go change into some dry clothes."

"Oh, I'm never in a hurry when it comes to you. I'd have to savor and take my time." His eyes twinkled with mischief.

"Promises, promises. You're such a tease."

When Morgan returned, she had the hot chocolate sitting on the coffee table and she was wrapped in a blanket.

"That's much better. Now you can cuddle with me."

She handed him his hot chocolate once he got settled with her leaning into him with one of his arms around her. They sat in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes enjoying their hot drinks and watching the fire roar in the fireplace.

"I'm worried about your fear of commitment."

"Why are you worried? You seem to be happy with being a bachelor."

"I don't want you to be like me when you're 40. I don't want you to have regrets. How can I help you get past whatever has you nervous? Is there something in your past that caused it?" he asked gently.

"No. Not really. Even though my parents divorced, my step-dad has always been there. He was like a real father."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Whenever I've had a roommate, we ended up annoying each other. We learned about the little things you don't have to know about when you're not living together. I've strained a few friendships that way. I prefer living alone."

"Were all of your roommates women?"

"Yes."

"Well there you have it."

She looked at him with a questioning glare which only made him laugh.

"Too many female hormones and emotions circling the small area."

"And you have knowledge of this how?"

"I have two sisters. I've watched them together and heard many stories of their college days with roommates."

"You've been a bachelor. How can you be sure that I wouldn't feel the same: crowded, worried about unspoken rules I didn't know about, being a night owl, things like that."

"You can't know until you try. Why not trying to live together before jumping into the marriage talk."

"I think it may be too late for that. And even if we haven't broken up, living together may make things even harder when the first miscommunication and disagreement happens."

"That's all a part of learning to be together, Baby Girl."

"Yes, but now our relationship is strained. There are more expectations. Trying to live together now seems too risky."

He gave her a squeeze and kissed the top of her head. After a few minutes of thinking, he had an idea. He wasn't sure if it was safe for his feelings and desires, but if it could help his baby girl, he would make the sacrifice.

"I have an idea. Let's do a trial run."

"What?"

"I want to show you that living with a man will be different. You're not risking our friendship. You will always be special to me. If he loves you as much as he claims, living with him isn't going to be risky if you're meant to be together."

"You can't be serious. You want _me_… to move in _here_… with _you_?

"I'm very serious," he said as he tapped her nose with a finger.

"You're a confirmed bachelor. I would be in the way when you have… _guests_."

"Baby Girl, my dates and one night stands are not as frequent as people like to believe."

"It wouldn't be a fair comparison. You are gone frequently on cases which would give me the space I love when living on my own. And it wouldn't come with _expectations_."

She was now in shock the more they discussed it and had moved out of his embrace to look at him face to face.

"Expectations? You mean like who's going to make dinner, clean, and buy the groceries? Those are minor things."

"Not that." She was wondering how her smart Derek Morgan could be so dense. "Expectations? You know… between a man and a woman… intimacy."

"Of course I wouldn't expect that. You know I wouldn't take advantage of you."

"That's not what I mean. It's not a fair comparison because Kevin would have expectations when I'm not expecting it or when I'm not in the mood…"

Morgan tried not to act surprised, but he just couldn't help it.

"Baby, if sex is a chore, maybe you're not with the right person."

"Don't be ridiculous. All relationships lose their passion after awhile."

"Hell, no!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. A flood of emotions engulfed him from disbelief, to anger, to a great desire to show her just how wrong she was.

"Derek, I don't mean to offend you, but how would you know?"

"I just do."

She hugged him. "Oh, my love, you have a lot to learn. Maybe it's time you find that special someone."

"I don't think that's going to happen." He already found her and she wasn't available. But he couldn't tell her that.

"I disagree."

"Let's not worry about my love life right now. You need help and having a roommate would be good for me, too. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two myself by not being alone all the time.

She looked very skeptical.

"You don't have to give up your apartment. It's a trial. Temporary. Just think about it. Please?"

"Are you sure about this?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't serious."

"I can't promise anything, but I'll think about it."

"That's a step in the right direction. How about a movie?"

"My turn to choose!"

He laughed as she happily jumped up to choose her movie.


	7. 7x14 Hotch, Beth & Spies

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

**Author's Notes:** This is a tag for **7x14 – Closing Time** (Hotch & Beth… and a couple of mysterious spies!) Quotes from the end of the episode's scene are in italics. Rating K+

**Warning:** If you are not a fan of Beth, you should probably skip this one. But don't fear. I still have a Hotch/Prentiss story to finish and maybe some new ones, too.

**Valentine Surprises**

"_Oh!"_ squeaked Beth.

Hotch turned around and looked at Beth who was standing one step above him. _"Did you forget something?"_ He was intrigued by how suddenly she looked nervous.

"_This." _

Before he could even think about what was happening, Beth's soft lips landed on his for a sweet chaste kiss. As Beth pulled away, she was happy and relieved by his hooded eyelids gazing back up at her.

"_I thought we should get that out of the way. Spare us any awkwardness."_

They were equally amused with each other. The only difference was that Hotch could only smile back at the beautiful woman who had quickly captured his heart a few weeks earlier.

"_You don't have the market cornered on surprises, Aaron,"_ said Beth as she reached out her hand for him to take. She giggled softly.

"_You know, it's not often that I'm speechless," _Hotch finally said as they walked down the sidewalk hand in hand.

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah, but I am now."_

"_It's a nice color on you."_ They both laughed at her joke. Hotch felt alive. He couldn't remember the last time when he had laughed so freely.

"_Yeah,"_ Hotch said to himself as much as it was to her.

He pulled her closer to him to see the sparkle in her eyes. He took a quick peek at the hands folded together. "Thank you."

"For what?" asked Beth innocently.

"Oh, I think you know. Maybe a few dates from now I'll have to remind you to thank me for initiating our first kiss," he teased knowing she would remember what he had said a few days earlier. He melted inside when Beth smiled brightly.

"So, you're already sure there will be more dates to come."

"And you're not?"

"Guilty as charged," she grinned and giggled.

Hotch opened the passenger door to his SUV. But before Beth could hop inside, Hotch pulled her a step closer to him and he heard the delightful surprised intake of breath. Before he could give himself time to over think the situation, he leaned down and captured her lips for a kiss that was a little longer and a little more passionate than the first one. Hotch's heart raced even more when he pulled away watching Beth slowly open her eyes but unable to speak. He was exceedingly glad that he could cause the same speechless reaction from her.

"You look beautiful, tonight," said Hotch in a soft husky voice.

It brought Beth out of her trance and she smiled brightly. "And you, my prince charming, look incredibly handsome."

**~oOo~**

Beth was mesmerized by the beauty of the dinner cruise ship they would be enjoying as it moved through the Potomac River.

"How did you manage to pull this off so quickly? This special cruise must have been booked for weeks."

"Remember the self-appointed best friend I told you about?" She nodded. "His name is David Rossi. He…"

"Best-selling author, David Rossi?" she interrupted.

"The one and only. And that's a good thing." He chuckled. "You never told me you read about serial killers."

"Well, only since I met you. I thought I should at least know the basics so I know what you're talking about."

"So you weren't just pretending to understand me?" he chuckled.

"I admit at first I was a bit surprised by all the details. So I thought I'd learn a few things. I've only read one book. I thought he retired."

"So did he. I was surprised when he returned. Anyway, he has connections."

"I'm not surprised."

"When I asked him to watch Jack for me this evening, he made some calls and suggested this place. He even insisted I take his new car. So what do you think?"

"Your friend has good taste. Maybe you should introduce us sometime," she teased with a glint in her eyes. He pretended to look hurt. "Only to tell him what a beautiful thing he did for his best friend. I still have to pass the best friend approval test, you know."

"That's not going to be a problem," he reassured.

Beth looked around the fancy dining room in awe. "It's beautiful. It makes me feel like you really are my prince charming and have taken me to a ball. Even your chariot will leave you at the end of the night." Hotch was looking amused as he always was by her girlish fascination with life. "Will I be home by midnight? I like these new heels and would really be disappointed if I lost one." Hotch laughed.

"Care to dance before dinner arrives?"

"I'd love to."

Ever the gentleman, he came around the table before she could stand and took her hand to escort her to the dance floor.

**~oOo~**

Hotch and Beth were so focused on each other that they didn't see the mysterious person sit at their table to secure something underneath it.

The mystery man and his date stayed in the background watching the lovely couple as they danced before dinner. They were surprised and intrigued watching as they engaged in what could only be called eye sex during dinner. Then they very carefully followed them on deck to see the lightened historical sites from the cruise ship's perspective.

**~oOo~**

Hotch stood closely behind Beth as she held onto the railing of the ship's deck. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck eliciting first a giggle of surprise and then a soft sigh of enjoyment as she gave him more room to do as he wished.

As much as Hotch enjoyed the feel of her skin, the smell of her hair and the shiver it provoked from Beth, his true intent was to whisper some surprising news to her.

"Don't act surprised. Pretend I'm telling you something sweet." He kissed her neck again. He really needed to remember not to get distracted.

"One of my team members is watching us." He wrapped his lips and tugged on her earlobe to insure her response wouldn't be suspicious. It worked a little too well.

"What?" she whispered.

Hotch turned her around so her back was to the railing. He peppered kisses along her jaw to her neck and then to her ear again. "We have a spy." He softly chuckled. Hotch leaned back to look at her. He was too happy to be annoyed.

"So David Rossi wasn't merely being generous and helpful?" she giggled. "Who did he get to spy on us?"

"It's Reid. He may be a genius with a heart of gold, but he can easily be manipulated by any one of his teammates. He's here with Ashley who did her internship with us last year."

She hugged him before asking, "What should we do about this?"

"I don't know. But we should definitely do something." He pulled back enough to see that she recognized the familiar phrases from just a few days ago. "Do you have any brilliant ideas?"

**~oOo~**

Reid walked with Ashley back to the dining room intent on ordering dessert and checking in with Rossi by way of texting. When the waiter arrived at their table, they were very surprised to discover that their dessert was pre-ordered and being served.

"I… I don't understand," stuttered Reid.

"I was told it was compliments of a friend," answered the tall and proper waiter. "I have for you our baker's special cheesecake served with strawberries covered in milk chocolate and accompanied by a rich red wine."

Ashley was very impressed and thanked the waited while Reid was looking baffled. Ashley gained his attention. "Rossi knows how much I love cheesecake and strawberries." Understanding finally dawned for Reid. "We really need to thank Rossi for this. It's delicious. Apart from the sneaking around, this really has been a wonderful experience. I'm glad that since Rossi was set on doing this, that he picked us."

Reid smiled shyly. "Me, too."

Reid and Ashley were relieved when they watched Hotch and Beth leave the ship. Taking a slight detour to the other side of the dining room, they retrieved the hidden microphone that was still attached underneath the couple's table. Before switching it off, Reid secretly spoke into it. "Mission accomplished. And thanks for the dessert and wine." He pocketed the device and looked at Ashley. "Ready to go?"

**~oOo~**

"Do you think they followed us here," asked Beth as they walked up the steps to her apartment.

"I'm pretty sure they didn't have a chance. Besides, I never spotted anyone following us."

"Of course, what was I thinking, Mr. FBI?"

Hotch smirked. "I'm off duty." He held out his arms. "No white shirt and tie, no…"

"A gun?" asked Beth in shock. How had she not realized that?

"My gun and badge go everywhere. Standard procedure. But no handcuffs."

"That's fine with me. I'm really turned off by kink." Beth looked horrified by what she announced. "Oh! Second mistake. I'm… I'm not…"

Hotch laughed heartily. "It's nice to see the tables turned."

She feigned indignation. "I wasn't implying anything. Really."

"I know you weren't." He bent over for a kiss that gradually became more intense.

"As enjoyable as this night has been, Rossi owes me for the stunt he pulled. And I think I have just the thing. It's not anything I would have planned ahead for, so kick me to the curb if you'd like."

Beth was watching him curiously.

**~oOo~**

Reid had just dropped off Ashley at her apartment and was heading for home when he heard his phone buzz.

"Reid! Get your ass over to Hotch's. Immediately!" roared Rossi.

"What? Why?" he asked nervously. He thought the night had gone so well.

"I'll start with this; I didn't buy dessert and wine for you."

"Well, then who… Oh!"

"Yeah. And now I have to pay the piper."

Rossi not seeing the confusion written all over the kid's face just kept on. "And you are going to share that price."

"I don't understand what…"

"Getting caught has awarded you with another task. I expect to see you in twenty minutes."

**~oOo~**

When Hotch returned home the next morning, he inwardly smiled at the sight he found in the kitchen while a stoic expression remained on his face. Rossi was lifting the last of the pancakes out of the frying pan. Were they supposed to be hearts? Jack was shaking powdered sugar over each plate and Reid was putting Jack's lunch bag into his backpack. Hotch wondered what Jack had conned his youngest agent into giving him for lunch. Hotch looked at his watch and sighed. They still had to eat and Jack would certainly need to change his clothes again.

The sigh alerted his presence to the others. When Hotch looked up, each one looked frozen in place and a little bit guilty.

"What?" Rossi finally asked. "There's nothing wrong with having pancakes for breakfast," he defended himself.

"Hearts, Dave? You made heart pancakes."

"Of course," piped in Reid. "We can celebrate a day late."

"Isn't this great Daddy? I didn't know Valentine's Day could be _two_ days!" Jack was bouncing up and down in his excitement.

"Jack, why don't you sit down and start eating? I don't want you to be late for school," reasoned Rossi.

"Can you take me to school today, Uncle Dave?"

A huge grin lit up the man's face. "I would love to Jack. Your dad and Reid are very capable of cleaning up this breakfast mess."


	8. 7x20 Morgan & Garcia

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

**Author's Notes:** This is a short tag for **7x20 (The Company). **Here's my idea of closure for the episode that had many fans confused about how it ended.

* * *

><p><strong>My God Given Solace<strong>

Morgan was emotionally and physically tired. He leaned on the edge of the nearest desk and watched his reunited family exit the station. Tonight everyone was deliriously happy and relieved. The hard part would arrive later and he would be there for it as long as he could. This wasn't the end. It was a new beginning.

Unexpectedly, he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. Between the events that had just taken place and the shock of seeing her, he was speechless. She ran her hand down the back of his head and neck and said, "There's my hero." She dropped her head on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head, his one and only God-Given solace. And then it was like his whole body relaxed from all the tension. She was there for him.

They stayed liked that for a few minutes. Rossi and Reid were the first to return and each smiled. Rossi gave a small nod that said not to worry about them and they continued on their way to help the LEOs with questioning people and reuniting more children with their families. Hotch, Emily and JJ arrived and their personal solitude ended temporarily.

"Garcia!" exclaimed Emily happily.

"When did you get here?" asked JJ.

"I think my plane landed," she looked at her watch. "About a half an hour ago."

Morgan joined the women with surprised reactions.

"I had some help getting through security," Garcia said with a smile of gratitude for Hotch.

Morgan shook his hand. "Thank you, Hotch." Morgan was in awe of his leader. He could have easily pointed out that he'd made the same judgment call in lying about Cindy's death as he did with Emily's death. Yet, here he was, not giving back to him what he had dished out in anger a few months earlier. It wasn't in his nature to do that. After dropping everything at the BAU, he came to help instead of question his decision. A simple look and a "That's it" told him he understood.

"We're going to finish up," Hotch said referring to Emily and JJ. "I still want you to take as much time as you need, Morgan. Garcia, we'll see you in a couple of days?"

Hotch allowed the women to hug their friends and colleagues before walking with them to their waiting team.

Morgan turned to Garcia and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear.

"Always," she whispered back.

After holding each other for a few more moments, he asked where her bags were.

"Hotch said they would be waiting for me at the hospital since he didn't think he could get the luggage here as fast as he could get me here."

"Remind me to thank him, again."

"You know I will."

He chuckled.

"Let's go see Desiree."

"Sounds like a plan, Baby Girl. Then we'll stay at Mama's."

"I'll take the floor this time."

"Hell no!"

"I think your body needs to relax with all the stress it's been under," she reasoned.

"You can just get that idea out of your pretty little head. Besides, Desi will be in the hospital for at least another day. I can put clean sheets on her bed for you."

"Mm. I think I can go for that."

"Beautiful _**and**_ smart."

"Aw, thanks, Hot Stuff."

"And hard-headed."

"But you still love me."

He kissed her cheek. "Yes, I do Penelope. And I always will."

**~oOo~**

Thank you for reading.

Please leave a review if there is something you especially liked about this episode tag. Thanks!


	9. 7x24 Rossi, Strauss & Garcia

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

**TAG to 7x24** (Second half of the finale) – Rossi, Strauss & Garcia

**A CM Weekly Writing Prompt (May week 3): **Write a tag for the season 7 finale.

Here's my idea of how JJ & Will's wedding may have been planned. This isn't a romantic one-shot. _**It's meant to be humorous**_.

* * *

><p><strong>Fight Hard, Play Harder<strong>

Hotch walked out of his office with his cell phone. "Let me check. Yeah, she's here. Erin, don't go anywhere." Looking at his team, he asked, "Dave wants to know if everyone's free tomorrow night."

"If he's buying, I'm in," called Morgan.

Strauss barely noticed the others agreeing. _"Did Aaron just call me by my first name? David is looking for me without being cautious? How much does Aaron know?" _Hotch brought her out of her private thoughts with the words "surprise wedding."

"A surprise wedding?" she asked.

"I can't believe JJ and Will are finally getting married," said Emily.

"I think the whole near death experience had a lot to do with it," replied Garcia.

"A surprise wedding?" Strauss asked again. _What did I miss in this conversation_?

"It's certainly better than a court house on Monday," said Morgan.

"Erin," called Hotch from the landing above. "Dave still needs to talk to you."

"Probably about the wedding," reasoned Reid.

Emily laughed. "He's been married 3 times, but I highly doubt he had any part in the planning of them."

"Ooh! I wanna help!" called Garcia with a hand waving in the air and moving towards Strauss who was taking the phone.

"Didn't see that coming," teased Morgan. Garcia may be afraid of getting married, but she loved planning parties.

**~oOo~**

Strauss had never been to Rossi's home. They preferred to keep their extra-curricular activities in neutral territories. The house certainly was big, but she wouldn't call it a mansion as he insisted it was.

Not seeing any other car in the drive-way, she assumed she'd arrived first. The entire way up to the front door, she wished that Garcia would arrive. But it didn't happen. What did happen next surprised her. She didn't need to knock on the door or ring a door bell because Rossi was already there welcoming her inside.

Rossi carefully set her things down and pulled her into an embrace. She was too shocked at first to respond, but Rossi's kisses were too intoxicating to ignore. When it ended, Strauss was annoyed. "David, what are you doing?" Rossi laughed which irritated her more.

"It's called kissing."

She swatted his arm. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Just because this place will look romantic by the end of the day, it doesn't apply to us," she huffed.

"Didn't say it did," Rossi declared.

"Then behave."

"That's no fun. Besides, Garcia called and said she was running late. She forgot to reset her alarm to a new time."

Strauss looked worried. "How late?"

"An hour."

"And you didn't think to call me," she said with her hands on her hips again.

"It was too late for you to go back home. What were you going to do? Sit in a restaurant for an hour drinking coffee and reading the newspaper?"

"Maybe."

Rossi snorted. "Figures."

"Like bickering for an hour is an improvement."

"Oh, I can think of something more enjoyable than that."

Strauss's eyes widened. "Here? What about our agreement?"

"Not enough time to go anywhere else."

"You're serious?"

"Oh come on, Erin. Yesterday was a crappy, stressful day. Surely you could use a repeat performance of what came before the city was practically destroyed."

**~oOo~**

Forty-five minutes later, Strauss was trying to fix her hair and look presentable again. When she walked into the kitchen still fluffing her hair, Garcia's eyes grew wide and she blushed.

Garcia looked back and forth between the two. Rossi looked undisturbed. Strauss looked mortified.

"I had my doubts yesterday, but now…"

"What? What about yesterday?" Strauss struggled to say.

"Let me guess," said Rossi. "When I got in my card after talking with you and Reid, you saw Erin walk out of the hotel."

Garcia nodded. "Yeah." She was still in shock.

Strauss looked accusingly at Rossi. "Just how cautious have you been?"

"Hey, it's not my fault they put two and two together."

"And calling Agent Hotchner because you were looking for me? He called me by my first name!"

Garcia's head acted as if she was watching a tennis match.

"He was just repeating what he'd just heard me say. It's a natural, unconscious reaction."

"Right."

"Do you play as hard as you fight?" Garcia suddenly asked.

Strauss looked at her in disbelief as Rossi laughed hysterically.

Garcia threw a hand over her mouth. "Did I say that out loud?" Garcia was beat red.

When Rossi calmed down, he reached for his wallet. "I need to pick up the mother of the bride at the airport. Here are a couple of credit cards. Do what you need to do. Have fun."


	10. 7x20 Rossi & Strauss

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**Summary:** This is a collection of one-shots for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

**Author's Notes:** This is my second tag for **7x20 (The Company). **This one is about Rossi and Strauss. (The first one was about Morgan and Garcia.) Strauss is waiting for Rossi when the team gets back from Chicago. Also written for this week's open character prompt (June 4) from the forum Criminal Minds Weekly Prompts.

**Why are you here?**

_Earlier in the conference room before leaving for Chicago:_

Hotch looked around the table at his colleagues' stunned faces. They looked exactly how he felt when he heard the news.

"We're going to Chicago," Hotch finished.

Rossi looked even more surprised. "Strauss approved this?"

"She's in a meeting." His stoic demeanor didn't crack, but Rossi grinned.

"Won't she be thrilled when she finds out," Rossi commented aloud.

"The sooner we leave the better," said Prentiss.

Reid nodded. "Absolutely. Wheels up in thirty." He was in a hurry to help his friend.

Hotch looked at him in shock before he glared at him. "Wheels up in twenty."

Reid instantly blushed when he realized he had verbalized his thoughts, Prentiss smiled and Rossi couldn't contain his laughter.

_After arriving back in Quantico:_

Rossi unlocked and opened the door to his office. When he looked at his desk, he stopped dead in his tracks. _What is she doing here?_

"Erin," he drawled.

Sitting in his chair prim and proper, she answered the same way. "David."

"Why are you here?" he asked when she didn't offer an explanation.

Strauss side stepped the question. "I had Aaron call me when you landed."

Rossi looked at the wall separating his and Hotch's offices. _Why didn't he warn me about this unexpected visit from our section chief?_

"Then, shouldn't you be over there interrogating him about why we rushed to Chicago to help Morgan?"

She lifted her hands palm out. "As far as I'm concerned, you're case in June was reopened." She stood and walked around to the front of his desk and leaned against it. "I assume Agent Morgan stayed in Chicago."

"Yes," Rossi answered hesitantly. _I wonder if she knows Garcia is also in Chicago_. "You still haven't told me why you're here." He dropped his go-bag and walked to stand in front of her.

"I want to know how Morgan and his family are doing and I knew I would get more than a simple '_fine_' from you. Don't look at me like that, Dave. I'm not cold-hearted."

"You're in the BAU. Why wouldn't I be cautious, confused and a little bit suspicious? So, let's clear the air about what you really want to know. Yes, Morgan worked the case with us. We work as a team. When Morgan and I paired up and I noticed that he was starting to take things personally, I pulled in the reins. If it wasn't for Morgan's knowledge of his cousin, she and that bastard would probably be in Canada by now. And since you asked about Morgan and his family's well being, they're elated to be reunited. I'm sure once the initial surprise and shock wears off, there will be a lot of healing to go through. Morgan's sister will probably be in the hospital a couple more days, but she's expected to make a full recovery." Standing still in front of her, he waited for her reaction without flinching.

Still leaning against his desk, she didn't flinch either. She wasn't about to give him that satisfaction. "I'm happy to hear it, but you forgot one piece of the story. It was Garcia who gave Agent Morgan the tough love he needed to get back on track to solve the case."

"She did?" _Now, that was news to him._ "How would you know that?"

"When I went to see her to get updated on the case, she was a basket case…"

Rossi interrupted her. "You went to Garcia instead of calling Aaron?" he asked in disbelief.

Strauss rolled her eyes. "There's more than one way to get information about your cases. When I saw that she couldn't concentrate, I assigned another tech to the case and told her to take a couple of personal days."

"You what?" roared Rossi. "Please tell me you didn't put a reprimand in her personnel file."

Strauss stood up and invaded his personal space. "I told her she'd be more effective in Chicago with the team. You didn't need to her to be just as emotional as Agent Morgan. That way she could stay and be there for him when the case was done like she wanted to be."

Rossi looked at his watch. "I've been back ten minutes. How many times are you going to surprise me? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he asked exasperated.

"Now what good would that do me?" she asked finally getting annoyed.

"Of course, it always comes back to how it will benefit you," he muttered before he pulled her flush against himself and kissed her.

Strauss pulled back out of his embrace. "David! What do you think you're doing? We're at work in your office, and in case you haven't noticed, the blinds are…"

Rossi looked in the direction of his window to see what had stopped her mid rant. Hotch was standing in the hall looking into his office. A couple moments later, Hotch regained his composure and walked to the open doorway.

"Dave, may I have a word with you in my office?" He immediately turned back and walked in the direction he'd just come from without looking into Rossi's office again.

"Damn it." Rossi turned back around to look at Strauss. "I'll deal with you later."

Before he walked out the door, she called for him. "Dave."

When he turned back around, he was clearly annoyed. "You really expect to interrogate me now?"

"No, I'll do that later. Your place or mine?"

Rossi shut the door a little harshly, closed the blinds and pulled her back into his arms.

"That wasn't at all suspicious," she remarked sarcastically.

"Just making sure my punishment is a good one."

He won. He surprised her and caught her off guard. She smiled and laughed before his lips met hers once again. Only that time she didn't pull away.


	11. 7x11 Reid & the Girls

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

This is a **collection of one-shots** for season 7 that are written as tags to individual episodes. They aren't in any specific order and they don't relate to each other.

This is a tag for **7x11 – True Genius **

**Criminal Minds Weekly Prompts: Week of Monday, June 25, 2012 **

Character Specific Prompt: The girls try and set Reid up on a date. (_Suggested by Rainbow Cloud_) & Open Character Prompt: A character from the past comes back with a shocking surprise. (_Suggested by I luv emily prentiss 2012_)

**Summary:** The BAU women take Reid to the bar for his birthday where they try and hook him up with as many phone numbers as possible hoping to beat Morgan's record. He ends up doing his own thing when he runs into someone from the episode _Amplification_. (Spoilers) **Rating: **T, **Genre**: Friendship

**Author's Note**: I have no idea if Reid drinks alcohol or not after his addiction to Dilaudid. Let's just say he can moderately ;)

This is a birthday fic for SpencerReidFan7! (Only a day late! Well, almost two days late. Eek!) Hope you like it!

* * *

><p><strong>A Birthday Surprise<strong>

Reid was so happy to finally have reached thirty years that he couldn't be embarrassed that Emily had reminded the rest of the team about his birthday or the fact that she took it a step further and planned a surprise party for him. However, that feeling of pure happiness could only last so long; after all, he wasn't exactly what you would call normal. And he didn't really have normal friends… case in point… Penelope Garcia.

He unwrapped the gifts his team members gave him. They were mostly gag gifts which he enjoyed and preferred. He saved the biggest one for last. He knew it was from Garcia all along because of the big bold colors in the wrapping paper and the frilly bows to top it off.

The only things in the box were two plain white envelopes. He eyed them suspiciously, looked up at the group and noticed everyone's anticipation and looked back at the envelopes. As he picked it up the one labeled #1, he asked, "How many of you know what's in this envelope?"

Most of the team tried to look innocent, but Morgan couldn't keep from grinning like a fool. Reid opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper that simply said "7." He looked up in confusion.

"Seven? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm pretty sure you'll find out when you open the next envelope, kiddo," said Rossi.

"Great. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with the number of team members," Reid mumbled in annoyance. Morgan chuckled. "This can't be good," he said when he heard him.

"_Dear my favorite genius,_

"Do you even know any other genius's?" asked Reid in amusement without looking up.

_I really wanted to get you a stripper that popped out of a birthday cake, but the boss man nixed the idea."_

Reid could feel himself blushing.

"_So instead, JJ, Emily and I are taking you clubbing_."

Reid looked up with furrowed brows. "What's clubbing?"

"We're bar hopping, my cute genius!" Garcia answered enthusiastically.

"I knew this wouldn't be good."

"Hold that thought," remarked Hotch with the hint of a smile. "It gets worse."

With great concern, he returned to reading the letter. "_It's really time for you to start dating. So, I've hatched a plan!"_

"Oh God!"

"_Tonight, with our help, you are going to meet girls and get their phone numbers_."

Reid's eyes grew big and the girls smirked.

"_Our goal is for you to break Morgan's record."_

"What?" he squealed.

"That would be seven, Pretty Boy!" said Morgan figuring he'd reached the magic number.

"I'm surprised it's only that many," teased Emily.

"Hey, it could be more. But a man's got to be attentive, too."

Emily snorted.

"First thing we need to do is get you to change into something more appealing for the clubbing scene," informed JJ.

Reid groaned.

"I want an update tomorrow," said Rossi.

"I'm not waiting for tomorrow. I want updates at every bar, Baby Girl!"

**~oOo~**

The girls had all followed him home to his apartment and to his mortification, they raided his closet. When they were done with him, he was dressed in a deep purple button down shirt with a few top buttons left undone to show off his collar bone. With that he wore black slacks because they couldn't find any jeans. They did find a decent pair of shoes that they had to practically force on him. There was no way they were letting him where his geeky looking tennis shoes. After messing up his boy band hair a bit more, they were ready to go!

"Are you sure you guys want to do this?" asked Reid. "The odds are that you won't have any fun. When will you have time for yourselves? You'll be begging girls to give me their phone numbers. In the end, you'll go home disappointed."

"Stop putting yourself down, Reid," Emily chastised. "You've got to stop comparing yourself to Morgan."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" he said incredulously. "I'm not comparing myself to Morgan. I'm okay with who I am. I've accepted that I'm socially inept. Morgan's told me not to spew statistics, but I can't help it. It just pours out."

"Maybe you don't have to give up statistics," offered Garcia. They all stared at her, but she didn't notice since she was driving. "Talk about some statistics on things they like to do or interests they have. Boost up their egos when you hear something they're good at."

"That has promise," admitted JJ.

"How am I supposed to know…"

Garcia interrupted. "You listen. Let her do most of the talking first. Ask her questions."

"Well, maybe." But he still sulked the rest of the way there.

The locations were actually a surprise for Emily and JJ as well as Reid and all three groaned when Garcia pulled into the parking lot to a popular karaoke bar.

"No way," said JJ. "This is not a place to pick up chicks."

"I find the name '_chicks_' to be a demeaning moniker. Considering you're a lady, I'm surprised you would use such a name."

JJ rolled her eyes. "That's the least of your worries right now. Just go with it."

"Oh! So I do have something to worry about. You think this is a long shot."

"That's not how she meant it, Reid." Emily answered with honesty. She got out of the car, opened the door to the back seat and pulled on his arm until he came willingly.

The first thing they noticed when they walked in was that there wasn't anyone on stage singing.

"People must not be drunk enough, yet," laughed Emily. "First round is on me!"

"Aren't we going to find a table?" asked Reid when he found all of them heading towards the bar.

"Not a chance. You can't be obviously hanging around with us. Here at the bar, you're freer to have women approach you. And believe me, despite your low self-esteem, you look hot tonight." Garcia and JJ nodded in agreement.

All of a sudden, Reid's eyes lit up.

"Wow! That was fast. Who are you ogling?" asked Garcia giddily.

Reid ignored her question. "Look, Anderson and Gina are here." He started walking towards their table.

"No!" complained JJ.

"Let him go." Emily held her back. "Think about it. Two men and one girl. This could be good."

Thirty minutes later, the girls were frustrated. Two ladies had approached the table but didn't stay long and they didn't see any exchange of phone numbers.

"They must be talking about Star Trek," whined Emily. "We need to get him away from them."

"Let's go get him and drag him to the next bar," sighed Garcia.

Just before they got to him, a waitress approached their table.

"Abby?" asked Reid.

Emily, JJ and Garcia looked at each other in surprise. None of them knew the beautiful blond and they wondered how Reid did. Anderson looked impressed.

"We've met before." She was obviously trying to figure out when and where.

"I'm Dr. Reid. We met during… well, during that incident with the mysterious illness."

Dawning lit up her face and in the next moment she became teary. "You saved my life," she said softly.

"Dr. Kimara and her staff had a lot to do with that," he unnecessarily downplayed his significance in finding the cure. "And I didn't actually create or find it, either."

"That's not what I heard," said Abby. "Hey, I'm going on break in ten minutes. Would you maybe like to talk?" she asked shyly.

"Yes, I would love to," Reid said eagerly without any hesitation or shyness of his own.

"Great!" Her smile was radiant. "So, what would you and your friends like to order?"

**~oOo~**

"I'm not kidding, my hunk of chocolate. Reid has been talking with a beautiful blond woman he met in the past and… OMG! I gotta get a picture. I'll call you right back!" and Garcia hung up on Morgan.

"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" asked JJ.

Garcia snapped several shots of Reid and the mysterious woman just as they were exchanging phone numbers. Then she quickly sent them to Morgan.

**~oOo~**

Abby had to return to her job and Reid knew he was about to be interrogated. He inwardly cringed when he turned around and faced them. Oh yeah, the gleam and hunt were in their eyes. He sighed and decided to just get it over with.

"No way!" Reid shouted over the music when they found a table to sit down at. "I am not talking with Morgan on speaker."

"Oh, come on, kid. Would you rather that I get the embellished version from Garcia?"

He shook his head in defeat. "Fine. Her name is Abby. She is one of the survivor's of the Nichols-Brown scare."

"No way! How old is she?" asked Garcia.

"I have no idea. But I do know that she is in college and taking courses in medicine and psychology; her near death experience changed her mind in careers."

"That is so cool!" squealed Garcia. "It's like it was meant to be!"

"You got her phone number. You must have remembered not to talk about statistics," teased Morgan.

Reid answered confidently. "Actually, I did fall in that trap, as usual."

"What?" asked Morgan clearly surprised.

"I'm good," Garcia answered smugly. "I knew you could channel it in the right direction."

"Baby Girl, you advised him to talk in numbers?"

"It obviously worked," Emily defended him. "What did you talk about?"

"She was telling me how well she was doing in her course work. I was really impressed especially with the statistics showing how rare someone her age was doing with such a tough and accelerated program."

"So you complimented her," said Morgan. "Nice going, kid."

"So are you ready to hit the next club?" asked Garcia.

"No, I'm fine with the one phone number I did get. We already have a date set up." Reid's smile was wide and his eyes shined. "I'll let Morgan keep his record and play the field."

"Hey, are you calling me a dawg?"

"If he isn't, I am," snorted Emily.


	12. 7x07 Hotch & Emily

**Disclaimer:** Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

**CM Weekly Prompts Forum: **August Weeks 1&2

**Episode Tag Prompt**: (7x07 – There's No Place like Home) – What did the team do when they had to stay an extra night until the weather cleared and it was safe to fly home?

**Drabble Prompt:** A confession (Story 500 words or less)

**Word Count**: 499

**A/N:** Hotch and Emily are the main characters. Just a quick reminder: This episode took place before Hotch met Beth.

**~oOo~**

Hotch, like everyone else, was disappointed that they would have to wait to return to DC until the next day. Weather conditions were too poor and commercial flights that were delayed would get first priority when it was safe again. So when Emily came to him with her idea, he agreed to it quickly.

It was already past eight o'clock and they still hadn't eaten dinner. Emily was concerned about JJ worrying excessively over Henry just as he was worried that Dave would have too much idle time to think about recent events in his life. So a plan was formed; and an hour later, the team was walking into a Sports Bar & Grill.

After good food and conversation, JJ challenged Hotch to a game of pool. Rossi and Morgan moved to the bar to watch a game and sports reports while Emily and Reid wandered over to the pool tables to watch Hotch and JJ.

It was a close match, but in the end, JJ was the winner.

"Okay, you two," said JJ. "Your turn."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Reid with concern. He really wasn't up for embarrassing himself.

"It's your turn to play. The winner gets to play against JJ," Hotch informed them.

"Ha! I think I played maybe once… when I was maybe 8 years old," Emily said with amusement.

Reid put his hands up in surrender. "I'm not playing."

"Why not, Spence?" asked JJ. "I would've thought you'd say it's all about physics and math."

"Yeah, but that doesn't trump coordination."

Hotch bumped shoulders with Emily. "You have nothing to worry about. You can easily beat him," Hotch said with a smirk.

Just as expected, that annoyed Reid enough to engage in the competition.

While JJ coached Reid, Hotch enjoyed helping Emily. He'd get behind her to show her the correct stance, show her how to use the cue and help her with choosing the plays to make. After a few successful turns, Emily became bold. She wiggled back into Hotch's crotch when he was behind her helping her choose which ball and which pocket to shoot for. She could hear his hiss the first time and believed he held his breath instead of saying anything. The second time she did it, he quietly confronted her.

Standing close to her from behind, he whispered huskily into her ear. "You really don't need my help anymore, do you? You know how to play this game."

"Oh, I know how to play the game; it just may not be the one you're referring to," she teased.

Hotch groaned softly. It had been way too long since he'd had this kind of attention paid to him. On her next shot, he got in close again. "Win this game and tell JJ you're not up for another match."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Why would I want to do that?" she teased.

"I believe there is a new game waiting for us upstairs."

**~oOo~**

**Thank you very much for your reviews! I love reading them!**

The 2012 PROFILER'S CHOICE CRIMINAL MINDS AWARDS ballot has been posted on the Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum. Nominations are being accepted from September 1, 2012 – October 15, 2012. Please be careful to follow all the rules to make your nominations count ;)


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